Hello. I'm Michael Mooney. This website is an outlet for free information that I want to share with you which does not fit into the missions of the two primary organizations I have worked with.

These organizations are SuperNutrition, my family's nutritional
supplement company, where I am Director of Science and Education, and Medibolics, an information outlet
for PoWeR (Program For Wellness Restoration), where I donated five years time as Director of Research and Education.

PoWeR is
a non-profit research and educational
organization that provides information
about hormonal, nutritional,
and exercise therapies to improve
well-being for people with HIV.

The information and opinions
I present on this site are my
own and are entirely independent
of these other two organizations. They do not necessarily represent
the opinions of the people I
work with in these other two
entities or any others that I have worked with.

If there is a misunderstanding about a subject, and the truth will help you be healthier, I will provide details that I hope can help clear up the misunderstanding. I will name the names of people and products when I review an issue.

Beta Carotene Is Not Vitamin A (Retinol) And Cannot Substitute For It
For instance, articles in biased newspapers, such as the New York Times, and incorrect statements by well-meaning people who are expected to be infallible nutritional experts, like Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Joseph Mercola, have raised unjustified concerns about vitamin A (retinol) supplements being "toxic."

Vitamin A (retinol, not beta carotene) is an essential nutrient, which means that you must have it for normal health and well-being and even to stay alive. Vitamin A is critical for the health of the eyes, lungs, bones, skin, cardiovascular and immune systems.

Further, because of this controversy a dozen or so multivitamin manufacturers removed true retinol vitamin A from their products, leaving only beta carotene.

A critical look at the science confirms that beta carotene does not absorb or convert into vitamin A in the body adequately for most people, therefore beta carotene cannot be relied on to substitute for vitamin A.

In fact, a study published in 2009 found that a significant number of people are genetically incapable of metabolizing beta carotene and turning it into vitamin A in their bodies adequately.

If you are concerned about the health of your eyes, lungs, bones, skin, cardiovascular and immune systems or you are pregnant and want to deliver a healthy full-term baby you should take true vitamin A, as retinol, and not rely on beta carotene for your vitamin A needs or you risk a serious vitamin A deficiency, which can result in long-term degeneration of vision, skin, bone, cardiovascular health, immune strength and numerous other problems.

USP Nutrient Misunderstandings
A misunderstanding generated by negative sales tactics from "whole-food-type" vitamin marketers is to say that isolated USP (United States Pharmacopeia)-type vitamins are toxic or that the body doesn't recognize them, because they are "synthetic," a word that is generally misunderstood by the public. This is nonsense. Click here to read why.

The body naturally synthesizes molecules and nutrients billions of times a second.

There is nothing wrong with synthesis. It is what you synthesize that can either be a perfect replica of a nutrient found in food that duplicates the activity of the same health-supporting nutrient in food or it can be something that never occurred in nature, like a drug, which inherently causes side-effects, because it is not natural to the human body.

Synthesis, of itself, is just a process.

IHowever, a campaign of confusion about synthesis has been created by "whole-food" multivitamin manufacturers,whose products deliver small doses of vitamins and minerals that all available published studies show to be too low to provide optimal health benefits.

People pay over $200 a pound for "organic whole foods" in tablets.

Since nutrient potency determines effectiveness, doesn't it seem more prudent to buy organic produce and supplement potential nutrient deficiences with optimal potencies of USP nutrients that are proven in over 30,000 published studies to deliver optimal effects?

Iron: The Number One Nutrient Deficiency in Older Age
There has been another misunderstanding about iron with Dr. Mercola and Dr. Andrew Weil telling people that we shouldn't take iron, saying that it is "toxic."

The very conservative National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine says that iron has a No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) of 65 mg a day. This means that their analysis of all published data for the last 60+ years shows that all normally healthy adults can take 65 mg of iron a day without toxic effects.

A significant number of men and post-menopausal women should consider taking supplements that contain iron, as low iron status has been shown in post-menopausal women to reduce immune strength by about half. In fact, iron deficiency is associated with more deaths from heart attack and hair loss for males and females.

For best long-term health, one should ask their doctor for a "ferritin" blood test to find out if you do or don't need to take supplemental iron, rather than going by a blanket "don't take iron" recommendation that may well not apply to you.

If it is real, and it is good
for you and it is something
you should consider using for
your better health, I want you
to know about it. If its main purpose is to gain profit, with little regard for the integrity of the product or information delivered to you, I want you to know that, too.

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Disclaimer: The
information contained
in this web site is for
educational purposes only,
and is in no way a substitute
for the advice of a qualified
medical doctor, registered
dietitian, certified nutritionist,
or exercise physiologist.
When you ask any professional
to help you make your
decisions about your personal
healthcare, I recommend
that you show them the
information you find here
because they may not be
aware of it and the scientific
studies that support it.
Appropriate medical therapy
and the use of pharmaceutical or nutritional
compounds should be tailored
for the individual as
no two individuals are
alike. I do not recommend
self-medicating with any
compound as you should
consult with a qualified
medical doctor, preferably
one who is knowledgeable
about nutrition and complementary
medicine who can determine
your individual situation.
Any use of the information
presented in this publication
for personal medical therapy
is done strictly at your
own risk and no responsibility
is implied or intended
on the part of the contributing
writers, or the publisher.

Permission: The content on this site may be copied without permission when used in a non-profit format if authorship reference is given to Michael Mooney and this web site. If for-profit use is desired, permission in writing from Michael Mooney is required.